Miami Sol (WNBA) (American Airlines Arena)
The Florida Panthers NHL team plays at the Office Depot Center in neighboring Broward County, Florida. The Miami Fusion, a defunct Major League Soccer team played at Lockhart Stadium, also in Broward.

Miami is also the site of the Orange Bowl, an annual collegiate football championship played at Pro Player Stadium. The city has hosted the Super Bowl several times. There are also two well-known but largely disused sporting venues in Miami: Miami Arena and the Orange Bowl Stadium.

People first reached Florida at least 12,000 years ago. The rich variety of environments in prehistoric Florida supported a large number of plants and animals. The animal population included most mammals that we know today. In addition, many other large mammals that are now extinct (such as the saber-tooth tiger, mastodon, giant armadillo, and camel) roamed the land.

The Florida coastline along the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico was very different 12,000 years ago. The sea level was much lower than it is today. As a result, the Florida peninsula was more than twice as large as it is now. The people who inhabited Florida at that time were hunters and gatherers, who only rarely sought big game for food. Modern researchers think that their diet consisted of small animals, plants, nuts, and shellfish. These first Floridians settled in areas where a steady water supply, good stone resources for tool making, and firewood were available. Over the centuries, these native people developed complex cultures. During the period prior to contact with Europeans, native societies of the peninsula developed cultivated agriculture, traded with other groups in what is now the southeastern United States, and increased their social organization, reflected in large temple mounds and village complexes.

Written records about life in Florida began with the arrival of the Spanish explorer and adventurer Juan Ponce de León in 1513. Sometime between April 2 and April 8, Ponce de León waded ashore on the northeast coast of Florida, possibly near present-day St. Augustine. He called the area la Florida, in honor of Pascua florida (“feast of the flowers”), Spain’s Eastertime celebration. Other Europeans may have reached Florida earlier, but no firm evidence of such achievement has been found.

On another voyage in 1521, Ponce de León landed on the southwestern coast of the peninsula, accompanied by two-hundred people, fifty horses, and numerous beasts of burden. His colonization attempt quickly failed because of attacks by native people. However, Ponce de León’s activities served to identify Florida as a desirable place for explorers, missionaries, and treasure seekers.

In 1539 Hernando de Soto began another expedition in search of gold and silver, which took him on a long trek through Florida and what is now the southeastern United States. For four years, de Soto’s expedition wandered, in hopes of finding the fabled wealth of the Indian people. De Soto and his soldiers camped for five months in the area now known as Tallahassee. De Soto died near the Mississippi River in 1542. Survivors of his expedition eventually reached Mexico.

No great treasure troves awaited the Spanish conquistadores who explored Florida. However, their stories helped inform Europeans about Florida and its relationship to Cuba, Mexico, and Central and South America, from which Spain regularly shipped gold, silver, and other products. Groups of heavily-laden Spanish vessels, called plate fleets, usually sailed up the Gulf Stream through the straits that parallel Florida’s Keys. Aware of this route, pirates preyed on the fleets. Hurricanes created additional hazards, sometimes wrecking the ships on the reefs and shoals along Florida’s eastern coast.

In 1559 Tristán de Luna y Arellano led another attempt by Europeans to colonize Florida. He established a settlement at Pensacola Bay, but a series of misfortunes caused his efforts to be abandoned after two years.

Spain was not the only European nation that found Florida attractive. In 1562 the French protestant Jean Ribault explored the area. Two years later, fellow Frenchman René Goulaine de Laudonnière established Fort Caroline at the mouth of the St. Johns River, near present-day Jacksonville.

These French adventurers prompted Spain to accelerate her plans for colonization. Pedro Menéndez de Avilés hastened across the Atlantic, his sights set on removing the French and creating a Spanish settlement. Menéndez arrived in 1565 at a place he called San Augustín (St. Augustine) and established the first permanent European settlement in what is now the United States. He accomplished his goal of expelling the French, attacking and killing all settlers except for non-combatants and Frenchmen who professed belief in the Roman Catholic faith. Menéndez captured Fort Caroline and renamed it San Mateo.

French response came two years later, when Dominique de Gourgues recaptured San Mateo and made the Spanish soldiers stationed there pay with their lives. However, this incident did not halt the Spanish advance. Their pattern of constructing forts and Roman Catholic missions continued. Spanish missions established among native people soon extended across north Florida and as far north along the Atlantic coast as the area that we now call South Carolina.

The English, also eager to exploit the wealth of the Americas, increasingly came into conflict with Spain’s expanding empire. In 1586 the English captain Sir Francis Drake looted and burned the tiny village of St. Augustine. However, Spanish control of Florida was not diminished.

In fact, as late as 1600, Spain’s power over what is now the southeastern United States was unquestioned. When English settlers came to America, they established their first colonies well to the North—at Jamestown (in the present state of Virginia) in 1607 and Plymouth (in the present state of Massachusetts) in 1620. English colonists wanted to take advantage of the continent’s natural resources and gradually pushed the borders of Spanish power southward into present-day southern Georgia. At the same time, French explorers were moving down the Mississippi River valley and eastward along the Gulf Coast.

The English colonists in the Carolina colonies were particularly hostile toward Spain. Led by Colonel James Moore, the Carolinians and their Creek Indian allies attacked Spanish Florida in 1702 and destroyed the town of St. Augustine. However, they could not capture the fort, named Castillo de San Marcos. Two years later, they destroyed the Spanish missions between Tallahassee and St. Augustine, killing many native people and enslaving many others. The French continued to harass Spanish Florida’s western border and captured Pensacola in 1719, twenty-one years after the town had been established.

Spain’s adversaries moved even closer when England founded Georgia in 1733, its southernmost continental colony. Georgians attacked Florida in 1740, assaulting the Castillo de San Marcos at St. Augustine for almost a month. While the attack was not successful, it did point out the growing weakness of Spanish Florida.

Britain gained control of Florida in 1763 in exchange for Havana, Cuba, which the British had captured from Spain during the Seven Years’ War (1756–63). Spain evacuated Florida after the exchange, leaving the province virtually empty. At that time, St. Augustine was still a garrison community with fewer than five hundred houses, and Pensacola also was a small military town.

The British had ambitious plans for Florida. First, it was split into two parts: East Florida, with its capital at St. Augustine; and West Florida, with its seat at Pensacola. British surveyors mapped much of the landscape and coastline and tried to develop relations with a group of Indian people who were moving into the area from the North. The British called these people of Creek Indian descent Seminolies, or Seminoles. Britain attempted to attract white settlers by offering land on which to settle and help for those who produced products for export. Given enough time, this plan might have converted Florida into a flourishing colony, but British rule lasted only twenty years.

The two Floridas remained loyal to Great Britain throughout the War for American Independence (1776–83). However, Spain—participating indirectly in the war as an ally of France—captured Pensacola from the British in 1781. In 1784 it regained control of the rest of Florida as part of the peace treaty that ended the American Revolution.

When the British evacuated Florida, Spanish colonists as well as settlers from the newly formed United States came pouring in. Many of the new residents were lured by favorable Spanish terms for acquiring property, called land grants. Others who came were escaped slaves, trying to reach a place where their U.S. masters had no authority and effectively could not reach them. Instead of becoming more Spanish, the two Floridas increasingly became more “American.” Finally, after several official and unofficial U.S. military expeditions into the territory, Spain formally ceded Florida to the United States in 1821, according to terms of the Adams-Onís Treaty.

On one of those military operations, in 1818, General Andrew Jackson made a foray into Florida. Jackson’s battles with Florida’s Indian people later would be called the First Seminole War.

Andrew Jackson returned to Florida in 1821 to establish a new territorial government on behalf of the United States. What the U.S. inherited was a wilderness sparsely dotted with settlements of native Indian people, African Americans, and Spaniards.

As a territory of the United States, Florida was particularly attractive to people from the older Southern plantation areas of Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia, who arrived in considerable numbers. After territorial status was granted, the two Floridas were merged into one entity with a new capital city in Tallahassee. Established in 1824, Tallahassee was chosen because it was halfway between the existing governmental centers of St. Augustine and Pensacola.

As Florida’s population increased through immigration, so did pressure on the federal government to remove the Indian people from their lands. The Indian population was made up of several groups—primarily, the Creek and the Miccosukee people; and many African American refugees lived with the Indians. Indian removal was popular with white settlers because the native people occupied lands that white people wanted and because their communities often provided a sanctuary for runaway slaves from northern states.

Among Florida’s native population, the name of Osceola has remained familiar after more than a century and a half. Osceola was a Seminole war leader who refused to leave his homeland in Florida. Seminoles, already noted for their fighting abilities, won the respect of U.S. soldiers for their bravery, fortitude, and ability to adapt to changing circumstances during the Second Seminole War (1835–42). This war, the most significant of the three conflicts between Indian people and U.S. troops in Florida, began over the question of whether Seminoles should be moved westward across the Mississippi River into what is now Oklahoma.

Under President Andrew Jackson, the U.S. government spent $20 million and the lives of many U.S. soldiers, Indian people, and U.S. citizens to force the removal of the Seminoles. In the end, the outcome was not as the federal government had planned. Some Indians migrated “voluntarily.” Some were captured and sent west under military guard; and others escaped into the Everglades, where they made a life for themselves away from contact with whites.

Today, reservations occupied by Florida’s Indian people exist at Immokalee, Hollywood, Brighton (near the city of Okeechobee), and along the Big Cypress Swamp. In addition to the Seminole people, Florida also has a separate Miccosukee tribe.

By 1840 white Floridians were concentrating on developing the territory and gaining statehood. The population had reached 54,477 people, with African American slaves making up almost one-half of the population. Steamboat navigation was well established on the Apalachicola and St. Johns Rivers, and railroads were planned.

Florida now was divided informally into three areas: East Florida, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Suwannee River; Middle Florida, between the Suwannee and the Apalachicola Rivers; and West Florida, from the Apalachicola to the Perdido River. The southern area of the territory (south of present-day Gainesville) was sparsely settled by whites. The territory’s economy was based on agriculture. Plantations were concentrated in Middle Florida, and their owners established the political tone for all of Florida until after the Civil War.

Florida became the twenty-seventh state in the United States on March 3, 1845. William D. Moseley was elected the new state’s first governor, and David Levy Yulee, one of Florida’s leading proponents for statehood, became a U.S. Senator. By 1850 the population had grown to 87,445, including about 39,000 African American slaves and 1,000 free blacks.

The slavery issue began to dominate the affairs of the new state. Most Florida voters—who were white males, ages twenty-one years or older—did not oppose slavery. However, they were concerned about the growing feeling against it in the North, and during the 1850s they viewed the new anti-slavery Republican party with suspicion. In the 1860 presidential election, no Floridians voted for Abraham Lincoln, although this Illinois Republican won at the national level. Shortly after his election, a special convention drew up an ordinance that allowed Florida to secede from the Union on January 10, 1861. Within several weeks, Florida joined other southern states to form the Confederate States of America.

During the Civil War, Florida was not ravaged as several other southern states were. Indeed, no decisive battles were fought on Florida soil. While Union forces occupied many coastal towns and forts, the interior of the state remained in Confederate hands.

Florida provided an estimated 15,000 troops and significant amounts of supplies— including salt, beef, pork, and cotton—to the Confederacy, but more than 2,000 Floridians, both African American and white, joined the Union army. Confederate and foreign merchant ships slipped through the Union navy blockade along the coast, bringing in needed supplies from overseas ports. Tallahassee was the only southern capital east of the Mississippi River to avoid capture during the war, spared by southern victories at Olustee (1864) and Natural Bridge (1865). Ultimately, the South was defeated, and federal troops occupied Tallahassee on May 10, 1865.

Before the Civil War, Florida had been well on its way to becoming another of the southern cotton states. Afterward, the lives of many residents changed. The ports of Jacksonville and Pensacola again flourished due to the demand for lumber and forest products to rebuild the nation’s cities. Those who had been slaves were declared free. Plantation owners tried to regain prewar levels of production by hiring former slaves to raise and pick cotton. However, such programs did not work well, and much of the land came under cultivation by tenant farmers and sharecroppers, both African American and white.

Beginning in 1868, the federal government instituted a congressional program of “reconstruction” in Florida and the other southern states. During this period, Republican officeholders tried to enact sweeping changes, many of which were aimed at improving conditions for African Americans.

At the time of the 1876 presidential election, federal troops still occupied Florida. The state’s Republican government and recently enfranchised African American voters helped to put Rutherford B. Hayes in the White House. However, Democrats gained control of enough state offices to end the years of Republican rule and prompt the removal of federal troops the following year. A series of political battles in the state left African Americans with little voice in their government.

During the final quarter of the nineteenth century, large-scale commercial agriculture in Florida, especially cattle-raising, grew in importance. Industries such as cigar manufacturing took root in the immigrant communities of the state.

Potential investors became interested in enterprises that extracted resources from the water and land. These extractive operations were as widely diverse as sponge harvesting in Tarpon Springs and phosphate mining in the southwestern part of the state. The Florida citrus industry grew rapidly, despite occasional freezes and economic setbacks. The development of industries throughout the state prompted the construction of roads and railroads on a large scale.

Beginning in the 1870s, residents from northern states visited Florida as tourists to enjoy the state’s natural beauty and mild climate. Steamboat tours on Florida’s winding rivers were a popular attraction for these visitors.

The growth of Florida’s transportation industry had its origins in 1855, when the state legislature passed the Internal Improvement Act. Like legislation passed by several other states and the federal government, Florida’s act offered cheap or free public land to investors, particularly those interested in transportation. The act, and other legislation like it, had its greatest effect in the years between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of World War I. During this period, many railroads were constructed throughout the state by companies owned by Henry Flagler and Henry B. Plant, who also built lavish hotels near their railroad lines. The Internal Improvement Act stimulated the initial efforts to drain the southern portion of the state in order to convert it to farmland.

These development projects had far-reaching effects on the agricultural, manufacturing, and extractive industries of late-nineteenth-century Florida. The citrus industry especially benefitted, since it was now possible to pick oranges in south Florida; put them on a train heading north; and eat them in Baltimore, Philadelphia, or New York in less than a week.

In 1898 national attention focused on Florida, as the Spanish-American War began. The port city of Tampa served as the primary staging area for U.S. troops bound for the war in Cuba. Many Floridians supported the Cuban peoples’ desire to be free of Spanish colonial rule.

By the turn of the century, Florida’s population and per capita wealth were increasing rapidly; the potential of the “Sunshine State” appeared endless. By the end of World War I, land developers had descended on this virtual gold mine. With more Americans owning automobiles, it became commonplace to vacation in Florida. Many visitors stayed on, and exotic projects sprang up in southern Florida. Some people moved onto land made from drained swamps. Others bought canal-crossed tracts through what had been dry land. The real estate developments quickly attracted buyers, and land in Florida was sold and resold. Profits and prices for many developers reached inflated levels.

Florida’s economic bubble burst in 1926, when money and credit ran out, and banks and investors abruptly stopped trusting the “paper” millionaires. Severe hurricanes swept through the state in the 1926 and 1928, further damaging Florida’s economy.

By the time the Great Depression began in the rest of the nation in 1929, Floridians had already become accustomed to economic hardship.

In 1929 the Mediterranean fruit fly invaded the state, and the citrus industry suffered. A quarantine was established, and troops set up roadblocks and checkpoints to search vehicles for any contraband citrus fruit. Florida’s citrus production was cut by about sixty percent.

State government began to represent a larger proportion of its citizens. Female citizens won the right to vote in 1920, when the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution became law. In 1937, the requirement that voters pay a “poll tax” was repealed, allowing poor African American and white Floridians to have a greater voice in government. In 1944 the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed a system of all-white primary elections that had limited the right of African Americans to vote.

World War II spurred economic development in Florida. Because of its year-round mild climate, the state became a major training center for soldiers, sailors, and aviators of the United States and its allies. Highway and airport construction accelerated so that, by war’s end, Florida had an up-to-date transportation network ready for use by residents and the visitors who seemed to arrive in an endless stream.

One of the most significant trends of the postwar era has been steady population growth, resulting from large migrations to the state from within the U.S. and from countries throughout the western hemisphere, notably Cuba and Haiti. Florida is now the fourth most populous state in the nation.

The people who make up Florida’s diverse population have worked to make the Sunshine State a place where all citizens have equal rights under the law. Since the 1950s, Florida’s public education system and public places have undergone great changes. African American citizens, joined by Governor LeRoy Collins and other white supporters, fought to end racial discrimination in schools and other institutions.

Since World War II, Florida’s economy also has become more diverse. Tourism, cattle, citrus, and phosphate have been joined by a host of new industries that have greatly expanded the numbers of jobs available to residents. Electronics, plastics, construction, real estate, and international banking are among the state’s more recently-developed industries.

Several major U.S. corporations have moved their headquarters to Florida. An interstate highway system exists throughout the state, and Florida is home to major international airports. The university and community college system has expanded rapidly, and high-technology industries have grown steadily. The U.S. space program—with its historic launches from Cape Canaveral, lunar landings, and the development of the space shuttle program—has brought much media attention to the state. The citrus industry continues to prosper, despite occasional winter freezes, and tourism also remains important, bolstered by large capital investments. Florida attractions, such as the large theme parks in the Orlando area, bring millions of visitors to the state from across the U.S. and around the world.

Today, Floridians study their state’s long history to learn more about the lives of the men and women who shaped their exciting past. By learning about our rich and varied heritage, we can draw lessons to help create a better Florida for all of its citizens.

Coconut Grove is one of Miami’s oldest and most renowned settlements. Positioned along the beautiful waters of Biscayne Bay, the city is praised for its lush environment and thriving commerce.

Originally home to an artisan community, Coconut Grove has been able to maintain its bohemian feel, while becoming trendy and chic all at the same time. With a plethora of restaurants, bars and clubs, the Grove is considered a prime attraction to visitors.

The Grove has luxurious hotels equipped with pools, spas and other amenities to make guests’ stays as enjoyable as possible. Outside the hotels, the city has an impressive shopping area boasting today’s top designers.

With its enchanting, tropical atmosphere and side walk cafes, the Grove has an energy all its own that welcomes people from all over the world.

FIRST COCONUT GROVE SCHOOL HOUSE 3429 Devon Rd. 1894 (moved in 1969). 1 story, board-and-batten. 1-room school built by pioneers of Coconut Grove to serve their educational and religious needs. Private. N.R. 1975.

PLYMOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH 3429 Devon Rd. 1917. Mission style. Clinton MacKenzie, architect. 1 story, stone, gabled tile roof, 2 bell towers; main entry has 300-year-old carved door with original hardware. The church, organized in 1897, played a major role in the early settlement of the town. Private. N.R. 1974.

RANSOM SCHOOL (Pagoda). 3575 Main Highway. 1895-1902. Frame Vernacular with Chinese influence. 2 stories, board-and-batten siding. The core building of the nation’s first 2-campus migratory boarding school, the other half being in New York State. Structure is of architectural significance. Private. N.R. 1973.

THE KAMPONG 4013 Douglas Rd. c. 1890. An estate of 10 acres. Home of Dr. David Fairchild (1869-1954), world famous horticulturist. Here many exotic plants were acclimatized to South Florida. Spanish-style main building (c. 1890). Extensive gardens. Private. N.R. 1984.

MacFARLANE HOMESTEAD HISTORIC DISTRICT 1930-1940. 38 buildings, 32 of historical interest. Masonry Vernacular. Small black neighborhood established shortly after the town was developed. Dominant structure in the district is St. Mary’s First Missionary Baptist Church, built in 1926. Private. N.R. 1994.

WILLIAM ANDERSON GENERAL MERCHANDISE STORE 15700 SW 232nd St. 1912. Frame Vernacular. 2 stories. The only known general store in Dade County that has survived from the early part of the century when general stores were of great importance. Private. N.R. 1977.

NEVA KING COOPER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (Homestead Public School). 520 NW 1st Ave. 1913+. Mediterranean Revival. August Geiger, architect. 1 story, stucco exterior walls, red tile roof, colonnaded garden courtyard. One of the first multiroom schools in the county and one of South Florida’s earliest examples of the popular Mediterranean Revival style. Public. N.R. 1985.

ALFRED I. DUPONT BUILDING 169 E. Flagler St. 1937. Moderne, with Art Deco elements. Marsh and Saxelbye, architects. 17 stories. Steel frame skeleton and exterior walls clad in stone. Black granite wrapping around 1st floor. Very ornate lobby. The first Miami skyscraper since the Dade County Courthouse was built. First major downtown project following the collapse of the 1920s land boom. Private. N.R. 1989.

BAY SHORE HISTORIC DISTRICT 1922-1941. 235 buildings, all of historical interest. Mediterranean and Mission Revivals, Art Deco, and Vernacular styles. Encompasses approximately 100 acres. District is noted for its wide, tree-lined boulevards and its plentiful, flowering trees. Private. N.R. 1944.

CITY OF MIAMI CEMETERY 1800 NE 2nd Ave. 1897-1920. 10-acre site sold to city in 1897 by Brickell family for a public cemetery. Enclosed by a masonry wall with iron gate entrance. Julia Tuttle ,’mother of Miami,” buried here. Jewish section. Small Mediterranean building in cemetery used as office. Public. N.R. 1989.

DADE COUNTY COURTHOUSE 73 W. Flagler St. 1925-28. Neo-Classical style. A. Ten Eyck Brown and August Geiger, architects. 28 stories. A broad base and central tower. The base of the building is faced with Stone Mountain granite, while the other floors are sheathed in terra-cotta tinted to match the granite slabs. Originally served the county and city governments, including the jail. Now entirely occupied by the judiciary. Public. N.R. 1989.

GESU CHURCH 140 NE 2nd St. 1922. Spanish Colonial Revival. 4 stories, brick, stucco; stepped belfry and tower complex over narthex. One of Miami’s oldest Catholic churches. Situated in an area of the city which has greatly changed. Private. N.R. 1974.

MIAMI WOMANS CLUB 1737 N. Bayshore Dr. 1926. Renaissance Revival with Spanish Colonial elements. August Geiger, architect. 4 and a half stories, U-shaped, flat tile roof. Built to accommodate the Miami Woman’s Club, organized in 1900 and chartered in 1911. Club has been active in numerous civic projects, including the public library. Private. N.R. 1974.

OLYMPIA THEATER AND OFFICE BUILDING (Gusman Cultural Center). 174 E. Flagler St. 1925. Mediterranean Revival. John Eberson, architect. 10 stories, faced in brick with terra-cotta and wrought iron detail. The theater is an outstanding example of the “atmospheric” style, with the design suggesting an amphitheater set in a courtyard of a Spanish villa. Public. N.R. 1984.

PRISCILLA APARTMENTS 318-320 NE 19th St. store on 1845 Biscayne Blvd. 1925, 1927. Mediterranean Revival. R.A. Preas, architect. 3 stories. A rectangular building with an L-shaped addition (1927). Square 4-story tower on NW corner, smaller tower on SW corner. Part of an effort by an early developer to establish a new shopping area on Biscayne Blvd. Private. N.R. 1989.

SOUTH RIVER DRIVE HISTORIC DISTRICT 1908-1914. 6 buildings and 3 outbuildings of historical significance. Predominant architectural style is Frame Vernacular. All buildings of historical importance have projected porches. The buildings within this district are fine representations of early 20th-century Frame Vernacular architecture in Miami. One of the earliest areas of Miami to be settled, it contained a number of boarding houses. Private. N.R. 1987.

WALGREEN DRUGSTORE 200 E. Flagler St. 1936. Streamline Moderne style. Zimmerman, Saxe, MacBridge, and Ehmann, architects. 5 stories. One of the most unique commercial buildings in downtown Miami, and one of the best examples of its architectural style in South Florida. Ribbon windows and a curved corner entrance are important identifying features. Private. N.R. 1989.

MIAMI BEACH ARCHITECTURAL DISTRICT 1920-1940. More than 650 architecturally significant buildings in a 125-block area. Predominant styles are Mediterranean Revival and Moderne. Notable buildings are the Cardozo Hotel, Tides Hotel, Victor Hotel, Old City Hall, Bass Museum, Delano Hotel, and Amsterdam Palace. The district contains the largest collection of Art Moderne buildings in the nation. Architectural styles greatly influenced by those of Chicago’s Century of Progress (1933) and the New York World’s Fair (1939). N.R. 1979.

GRAND CONCOURSE APARTMENTS 421 Grand Concourse. 1926. Mediterranean Revival. Robert Law Weed, architect. 4-story central tower, 2-story wings, masonry, stuccoed, 3-bay entrance loggia, 7-bay loggias on wings. The only large, multiunit building constructed from an original plan that would have included a series of grand hotels and apartments. Private. N.R. 1985.

ARCH CREEK HISTORIC AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE 1855 NE 135th St. and Biscayne Blvd. Prehistoric through 19th century. A tropical hardwood hammock near Arch Creek on which there is an Indian midden as well as the sluice of a destroyed 19th-century coontie mill. Coontie is an edible native plant used by Indians and early settlers as a source of starch. Public. N.R. 1986.

PAN AMERICAN SEAPLANE BASE AND TERMINAL BUILDING3500 Pan American Dr. 1930-1938. Moderne. Fred J. Gelhaus and B.W. Reeser, architects. 2 stories, rectangular with 2 groups of steel-frame hangars. U.S. terminus for Pan American Airline Clipper Service to South America. Use declined in 1940s when air fields were built in South America. Today Miami’s City Hall. Public. N.R. 1975.

THE RALPH M. MUNROE HOUSE (The Barnacle) 3485 Main Highway. 1891. Frame Vernacular. 2 stories, original 1-story frame structure with central octagonal room, raised above concrete-block ground floor about 1908. Example of regional building adapted to climatic conditions of South Florida. Considered one of the finest examples of Frame Vernacular architecture in area. Under restoration for a museum. Public. N.R. 1973.

WOMAN’S CLUB OF COCONUT GROVE 2985 S. Bayshore Dr. 1921. Mission style with Spanish Colonial elements. Walter C. de Garmo, architect. 1 and a half stories, coral-rock block walls. Interior auditorium with truss ceiling. Built to accommodate one of the earliest woman’s clubs in South Florida. An excellent example of the use of local materials. Private. N.R. 1975.

CORAL GABLES CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH 3010 De Soto Blvd. 1924. Mediterranean Revival. Kiehnel and Elliott, architects. Rectangular masonry with stucco finish and tile roof. The Baroque belfry is its most prominent feature; sculptural program over main entrance. One of the earliest religious structures in city. Designed as a replica of a church in Costa Rica. Private. N.R. 1978.

CORAL GABLES WOMAN’S CLUB 1001 E. Ponce de Leon Blvd. 1936. Moderne. William Merriam and George Fink, architects. 1 story. Built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the Depression. Constructed with local oolitic limestone. Terra-cotta panels. Rare example of Depression Moderne style. Woman’s club was responsible for the city’s first library. Private. N.R. 1990.

VENETIAN POOL 2701 De Soto Blvd. 1924. Mediterranean Revival. Phineas E. Paist, architect. Swimming pool designed to resemble a natural lagoon in a Venetian setting. Part of the George Merrick plan to create a Spanish-Mediterranean-style city. Pool originally was a rock quarry. Public. N.R. 1981.

CHARLES DEERING ESTATE SW 167th St. and Old Cutler Rd. 1896, 1922. Frame Vernacular (1896), Mediterranean Revival (1922). This 368-acre site contains two significant architectural structures, one of the earliest remaining Vernacular buildings in the county and a large Mediterranean Revival house. Evidence of Pre-Columbian human occupation on site. Estate was owned by the Deering Family, which made its fortune in farm machinery. Public. N.R. 1986.

SILVER PALM SCHOOL 15655 SW 232nd St. 1904. Frame Vernacular. 2 stories, hip roof, and 2-story porch on south elevation. The first of several rural schools built during the early 1900s in south Dade County. School contributed significantly to the community’s educational and cultural growth. One of the two surviving rural school houses in south Dade County. Now a private residence. Private. N.R. 1987.

HIALEAH RACE TRACK E. 4th Ave. between E. 22nd St. and E. 31 St. 1925. Masonry Vernacular with Classical elements. First named the Miami Jockey Club, it became one of the most famous race tracks in the nation. Originally contained a Greyhound track and amusement park. Great efforts have been made to enhance its beauty, including extensive plantings and a famous flock of pink flamingoes. Private. N.R. 1979.

ALGONQUIN APARTMENTS 1819-1825 Biscayne Blvd. 1924, addition in 1927. Mediterranean Revival. 3 stories. Stucco-sheathed building is divided into three bays. The apartments were built during a period when Biscayne Boulevard was being developed as a “modern” shopping street to compete with the older downtown. Private. N.R. 1989.

CAPE FLORIDA LIGHTHOUSE Key Biscayne. 1825+ . Conical. Brick, originally 65 feet high, but in 1855 raised to 95 feet. One of a series of lighthouses built after Florida was incorporated into the U.S. The light indicated a dangerous reef. Lighthouse attacked and destroyed by Indians in 1836. Rebuilt in 1846. Became inactive in 1878. Believed to be the oldest structure in the county. Museum. Public. N.R. 1970.

CONGRESS BUILDING 111 NE 2nd Ave. 1923, 1925. Commercial style with Classical elements. Martin L. Hampton, architect. 21 stories, beige, glazed terra-cotta exterior, 2nd floor has 5 arched bays. An excellent example of ‘boom time” architectural style. The building is also noteworthy because it was originally 5 stories, but designed to support additional floors which were built later (1925). Private. N.R. 1985.

D.A. DORSEY HOUSE 250 NW 9th St. c. 1914. Frame Vernacular. 2 stories. Home of one of Miami’s most prominent black businessmen. An early developer of Overtown, Dorsey purchased Fisher Island and Elliot Key with the idea of setting up a resort for blacks. Private. N.R. 1989.

ENTRANCE TO CENTRAL MIAMI Red Rd. at SW 34th St. and SW 35th St. 1925. Mediterranean Revival. 8 towers and a park at the western entrance to Coral Gables. Coral Gables Waterway passes through park. A pair of 13-foot square towers form the entrance. Smaller towers flank SW 34th and 35th streets. Public. N.R. 1989.

FLORIDA EAST COAST RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVE NO. 153 12450 SW 152nd St. 1922. Pacific-type, 4-6-2, oil-burning locomotive. Originally constructed for the Flagler System’s East Coast Railway, it was used for passengers and freight until 1937 when it was sold to the United States Sugar Corporation to haul cane from the fields to its Clewiston mill. Located now at the Gold Coast Railroad Museum. Private. N.R. 1985.

FREEDOM TOWER 600 Biscayne Blvd. 1925. Spanish Renaissance Revival. Schutze and Weaver, architects. 14-story building surmounted by an octagonal tower with Spanish Plateresque detail. Formerly the home of the Miami News, the city’s oldest newspaper. From 1962 until 1974 a reception center for Cuban refugees. Design was inspired by the Giralda Tower in Seville, Spain. Private. N.R. 1979.

GREATER BETHEL A.M.E. CHURCH 245 NW 8th St. 1927, completed in 1942. Mediterranean Revival. John Sculthorpe, architect. 2 stories. Square towers flanked by a shed roof. Home of Miami’s oldest black congregation, organized in 1896. Building that proceeded the “Greater” church was named ‘Little Bethel.” The pay-as-you-go policy accounts for long construction period. Private. N.R. 1992.

I. AND E. GREENWALD STEAM ENGINE NO. 1058 1906. 3898 Shipping Ave. Built in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1906, the engine has an unusual power transmission system utilizing a rope drive. It is believed to be the only surviving engine of its type. Engine was relocated in 1984 from Beaumont, Texas, where for many years it was used in rice irrigation. Reconditioned. Private. N.R. 1987.

INGRAHAM BUILDING 25 SE 2nd Ave. 1926. Renaissance Revival. Schultze and Weaver, architects. 12 stories. Clad in Indiana limestone. Roof is hipped and sheathed in Spanish tiles. Interior of the building is very ornate. The same architectural firm designed New York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Private. N.R. 1989.

J & S BUILDING (Cola-Nip Building) 221-233 NW 9th St. 1925. Masonry Vernacular. 2 stories. Concrete block. First floor has a number of store fronts, most now boarded-up. Closely associated with the early commercial life of the Overtown community, one of the city’s oldest black neighborhoods. Private. N.R. 1989.

KENTUCKY HOME (Anderson Hotel). 1221 and 1227 NE 1st Ave. 1918, 1924. Masonry Vernacular. 3 stories. 2 buildings linked by an arch at entrance to courtyard. Design adopted to local environment through 3-story open porches. An excellent example of a downtown rooming house, a dwelling common in the early history of Miami. Private. N.R. 1989.

LYRIC THEATER 819 NW 2nd Ave. c. 1914. Masonry Vernacular. 2 stories. Concrete block sheathed in stucco. Arched parapet and elaborate bays. Was important as the center of Overtown’s early social life. Overtown was one of the city’s earliest black neighborhoods. Owned and operated by blacks, and primarily featured black entertainers. Popular among white Miamians as well. Private. N.R. 1989.

MEYER-KISER BUILDING 139 NE 1st St. 1925, 1926. Commercial style. Martin L. Hampton, architect. 17 stories (now 10). Originally the building was 17 stories, but the September hurricane of 1926 forced the removal of the upper 10 floors. Built to be hur

MOUNT ZION BAPTIST CHURCH 301 NW 9th St. 1928. Mediterranean Revival. William Arthur Bennett, architect. 2 stories. One of the few examples of Mediterranean Revival style found in the black community of Overtown. The place of worship of one of Miami’s oldest black congregations. Private. N.R. 1988.

OLD U.S. POST OFFICE AND COURTHOUSE (Ameri First Federal). 100-118 NE 1st Ave. 1912-14. Neo-Classical. Oscar Wenderoth, Kiehnel and Elliott, architects. 3 stories. Exterior clad in Bedford limestone from Indiana. The east side parallel to NE 1st Ave. is characterized by a facade 9 bays in length and 3 stories high. Converted to bank in 1937. Private. N.R. 1989.

PALM COTTAGE 60 SE 4th St. c. 1897. Frame Vernacular. Joseph A. McDonald, architect. 2 and a half stories. Moved from its original site in 1980. Believed to be the last known structure in Miami directly associated with Henry Flagler and the early years of the city’s development. Oldest known residence in downtown Miami. Presently unoccupied. Public. N.R. 1989.

S & S SANDWICH SHOP 1757 NE 2nd Ave. 1938. Art Deco. 1 story. Sheathed in structural glass in contrasting colors. Its west front is only 12 feet high. Interior retains much of its original elements. Only remaining example of a very popular restaurant style from the early 1930s. Still in use. Private. N.R. 1989.

SECURITY BUILDING (Capital Building). 117 NE 1st Ave. 1926. Commercial. Robert Greenfield, architect. 16 stories. Its embellishments are in the Second Empire architectural mode. Steel frame, granite facing. Construction began in the last year of Miami’s land boom. When finished it was the most imposing building in the city’s center. Private. N.R. 1989.

SOUTHSIDE SCHOOL 45 SW 13th St. 1914, additions in 1922, 1925. Mission Revival elements. August Geiger, architect. 2 stories. Sole surviving example of a popular Miami school design. Excellent adaptation of the design to the local climate. One of the oldest public school buildings in Miami. Today serves almost 500 students K-6. Public. N.R. 1989.

ST. JOHN’S BAPTIST CHURCH 1328 NW 3rd Ave. 1940. Gothic style with Art Deco and Moderne detail. McKissack and McKissack, architects. 2 stories. Masonry, clad in buff brick. A black church designed by a black architectural firm. Church is little altered from when it was built. Private. N.R. 1992.

TRINITY EPISCOPAL CATHEDRAL 464 NE 16th St. 1923. Romanesque Revival. Harold Hasting Mundy, architect. Main facade has a gabled parapet with cross finial. Corners supported by buttresses. Much use of stained glass. Regarded as one of the great monuments of boom architecture. When built, the area was the center of the Episcopal community. Private. N.R. 1980.

U.S. CAR NO. 1 12450 SW 152nd St. 1928. Built in 1928 by the Pullman Co., Car No. 1 was rebuilt in 1942 for use by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The redesign included making the car impenetrable to attack. The interior was redesigned to serve as a mobile presidential suite and includes office, dining room, and sleeping accommodations. Used by President Ronald Reagan to Campaign in Ohio in 1984. Presently in the Gold Coast Railroad Museum. Private. N.R. 1977.

U.S. POST OFFICE AND COURTHOUSE 300 NE 1st Ave. 1933. Mediterranean Revival. Paist and Steward, architects. 3 stories, East facade has 2-story engaged Corinthian columns. An excellent example of Mediterranean Revival architecture. The largest structure to be built of local limestone in South Florida. N.R. 1983.

THEMATIC RESOURCE REGION NE 91st St. – NE 102nd St. 1926-. Mediterranean Revival. Kiehnel, Elliott and others, architects. 1 and 2 stories. 24 residences, part of a mid 1920s development by the Shoreland Company. Most homes are excellent examples of Mediterranean Revival style. Some were built to suggest a weathered or aged appearance. Private. N.R. 1928.

COUNTRY CLUB ESTATES THEMATIC RESOURCE AREA Buildings principally on Deer Run and Hunting Lodge Sts. 1924-1927. 10 buildings, 7 of which are on the National Register of Historic Places. Carl Adams House, 31 Hunting Lodge (1985); Clune Building, 45 Curtiss Pkwy (1985); Lua Curtiss House 1, 85 Deer Run (1985); Lua Curtiss House II, 150 Hunting Lodge (1985); Hequembourg House, 851 Hunting Lodge (1985); Millard-McCarty House, 424 Hunting Lodge (1986); Osceola Apartment Hotel, 200 Azure Way (1985). Pueblo Revival. These structures and several others are the only unaltered of an original 135 which were built in the planned community of Miami Springs. Associated with the development project of Glenn H. Curtiss, internationally recognized aviator and inventor, and James Bright. N.R. 1985 and 1986.

OLD SPANISH MONASTERY (Monastery of St. Bernard of Clarvaux; Cistercian Monastery of Sacramenia, Segovia, Spain). 16711 W. Dixie Highway. a.d. 1141, reconstructed in Florida 1952-1953. Spanish Romanesque and early Spanish Gothic. The cloister, most notably its chapter house, is a representative example of 12th-century Spanish ecclesiastic architecture. Purchased by William Randolph Hearst in 1925 and reconstructed by Allen Carswell, who built the Cloisters in New York . Presently an Episcopal Church. Private . N . R . 1972.

OPA-LOCKA THEMATIC RESOURCE AREA 1925-1928. 16 residences and 4 other buildings on the National Register scattered throughout a wide area of the city. Moorish Revival. Bernhardt Emil Muller was commissioned by the developers of the city to design buildings in Moorish Revival style based on visual impressions from stories taken from 1001 Tales from the Arabian Nights. Outstanding examples of this style are: Opa-locka Company Administration Building, 777 Sharazad Blvd, which got its inspiration from the “Tale of Layn al Asnan,” and Opa-locka Railroad Station, 490 Ali Baba Ave., whose design was inspired by the ‘Tale of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.” Also, the Opa-locka City Hall. N.R. 1982-1987.

HERVEY ALLEN STUDY (The Glades Estate). 8251 52nd Ave. 1934. Masonry Vernacular. 1 story of local limestone. For many years the study of the novelist Hervey Allen, who wrote the novel Anthony Adverse and numerous other works of fiction. Most of his later works written here. Private. N.R. 1974.

OFFSHORE REEFS ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISTRICTBiscayne National Park. Spanish Colonial period to late 19th century. Offshore reef of hard and soft coral which extends 30.1 miles north and south and 4.6 miles east and 7.7 miles west of the eastern boundary of Biscayne National Monument. Possibly as many as 42 shipwrecks in this district from all periods of American history. Public. N.R. 1984.

ROCK GATE (Coral Castle) 28655 S. Federal Highway. 1923 (moved to present site in 1937). Unique open-air sculpture garden with pieces made from local limestone. The creation of Edward Leedskalnin, Latvian immigrant. His works represented his interest in science as well as his yearning for a lost love who rejected him while a youth in Latvia. Private. N.R. 1984.